Marketing matters

The ASA recently rejected a complaint made by Compassion in World Farming against BPEX advertising earlier this year, claiming that the outdoor production shown was not wholly representative of overall pig production in Britain.

The Advertising Standards Authority recently rejected a complaint by Compassion in World Farming and others that a recent advertisement in the BPEX 'Trust the Tractor'campaign implied that all Red Tractor pigs were raised in free range systems. The advertising was fronted by TV celebrity Jimmy Doherty.

The ASA ruling dismissed the complaints, acknowledging that some aspects of pig farming in the UK were contentious, but accepted the BPEX casethat the Red Tractor scheme applied measures in an effort to control their use and the pigs were raised to good standards.

Market research group, Mintel, published a 'Consumer trends for 2014'report suggesting that ‘Brand Britannia fever, driven by Olympic medals’ may be on the wane. In their research, 30% of respondents said ‘I do not feel any loyalty to buying British food and drink’. Further Mintel research reveals that price comes before patriotism and provenance with 58% of consumers saying ‘the price and the quality of what I buy is what matters, not where it was produced’. Meanwhile, 54% of Brits say that they are ‘just as interested in buying authentic products (e.g. French Brie, Parma ham) from other countries as from Britain’.